When asked to describe his music, Zach Saginaw, operating under the pseudonym Shigeto, urges prospective fans to "have a listen". Drawing on his jazz background, instrumental hip-hop and years of drumming to create beat-heavy electronic tracks, Shigeto's music does indeed transcend traditional genr…
After over a decade, Fruit Bats is, um, flying away into the sunset, as mastermind Eric D. Johnston announced this morning: "Hey All. So, after 13 years, 5 albums, bunch of tours, and lots of laughs, Fruit Bats is calling it a day. There is no major or dramatic reason – I’m not gonna launch into o…
Seattle's Beat Connection seem to evolve with grace. As is the case with most young bands, they've had plenty of that evolution in the last three years. Their journey from the early house-driven days of 2010's Surf Noir to the vast, green sound of their 2012 debut LP Palace Garden and even through …
KEXP celebrates the Capitol Hill Block Party, an annual three-day music festival in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
The title says it all: Animal Collective have released a new single titled "Kinda Bonkers." Listen below, via a lyric video by animator/director Jack Kubizne. The track will be included on their upcoming EP, The Painters, a companion to last year's full-length Painting With. It'll feature three ne…
"How is it," longtime readers of this series might wonder," that you've covered two David Sylvian solo albums, but not a single Japan album? Or even Rain Tree Crow!" You know, I have no good answer to that beyond the fact that this pulling-records-off-the-shelves game is a fickle one. Maybe I spent…
Congratulations to Bob Dylan, winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature! Also a critically acclaimed memoirist, Dylan was awarded the prize "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition", and he's the first American to win the prize in over 20 years! The 75-…
While climate change may be something that members of our federal government have decided to ignore and/or flat-out reject, it's difficult to ignore the fact that summers in Seattle have gotten increasingly warmer. On August 8th we broke the previous record of 51 days without rain, making it the dr…
Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke has announced a new solo album called Fatherland to be released in October. Back in May, he shared a new solo song "Yemaya" and now he has shared the single "Streets Been Talkin" which he describes as “a bittersweet ode to romance and the passing of time.” Okereke's…
Congratulations to Mavis Staples, who just won a Grammy last night for Best American Roots Performance. It's great timing as the legendary blues singer will release Livin' On A High Note, on Friday. This, her fourteenth studio album, features songs written by Justin Vernon, M. Ward, Benjamin Booker…
When it comes to Mike Krol, it's not three strikes and you're out. For the LA based, Milwaukee born songwriter, the third time's a charm, or rather, a Turkey. His third LP, and recent Merge Records release, avoids incarceration with a liberating blast of hook-filled garage rock, smart self-reflecti…
It's only 73 seconds long, but this mini-trailer has us very excited for the eagerly-awaited sophomore release from UK group Savages. In the clip, none other than Henry Rollins (??!!) reads from Phyllis Rose’s Jazz Cleopatra: Josephine Baker In Her Time as new music from the band plays in the back…
After a tumultuous four years (in which frontman Zach Condon went through an ugly divorce and was later hospitalized), it's great to see Beirut being silly and having a good time again. Check out the playful video for "No No No" (directed by Brother Willis) below. Will skunks and baguettes be used…
The DJ comments on this LP call us back to a dark time when not every album was available everywhere in the world instantly upon its release. Many well-loved bands could only be heard by spending way too much money on physical objects that had been transported in small batches from another country …
Brooklyn’s brassy big band Red Baraat stopped by on their way across the country on a national tour to bring their infectious world music into the KEXP live room. Led by percussionist Sunny Jain, the eight members draw on a Bhangra blend of North Indian rhythms mixed with hip-hop, funk and New Orle…
